MOTORCYCLING: East Kirkby’s Philp heads to Holland for penultimate round

Tommy Philp in action. Photo: Dave Yeomans

Published:07:35Friday 07 October 2016

The draperRACING team headed to Assen in the Netherlands for the penultimate round of the British Supersport championship, where Tommy Philp recorded an 18th and 23rd place in the two races over the weekend.

Team-mate Aaron Clarke did not have a race at Assen as the stock 600 class does not travel to Assen; they had their extra race at Donington Park as part of the support package to the World Superbike round earlier in the year.

Tommy, of East Kirkby, had a struggle through qualifying and finished in 35th position to start the sprint race from the 12th row but got away to a fantastic start to take up 25th position on the opening lap. But although he did make up places during the 12-lap affair, he was too far back on the grid to make any impression on the leading group of riders and completed the race in a very creditable 23rd spot after making up an incredible 12 places during the race.

Rewarded for his performance in race one, he was placed on the eighth row for the start of race two. But a shower of rain halted the race on the warm-up lap to allow riders to change tyres if they wished.

The race was declared wet and reduced in distance from 15 to 12 laps. The riders set off once again on the warm-up lap only to find the track was wetter than first thought and those who opted to stick with their original tyre choice had second thoughts and the race was delayed once again.

With all riders now on the correct tyres, the race got underway with Tommy settling into 18th position at the start. He moved up to 16th on lap four but as the track began to dry his wet weather tyre began to go off and he lost ground to 19th on lap seven.

On the penultimate lap, he was able to overtake Ryan Dixon and hold his position to cross the finish line just outside the points in 18th position.

The final round is at Brands Hatch over the weekend of October 14/16 when Tommy will be reunited with his team-mate, as both he and Aaron take part in the last round of their respective campaigns.

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